Audrey's Hope
by lusifergirl45
Summary: Taylor Ambrose's little sister. She has APL. Her kidneys are failing. She meets Kate. What happens? Read plz. T 4 safety
1. Chapter 1

When my brother and I were born, it wasn't for us. It was for our older brother Taylor, who has AML.

Taylor is two years older than me. But when me and my twin brother, Elliot, were at our four year old check ups, they found bruises on me. On my back. Similar to the ones my older brother, Taylor, had. I was diagnosed with a more dangerous type of leukemia than my brother, APL. I was in the hospital for awhile, from when I was four until I was seven, eight to ten, ten to thirteen, so that's why, right now, at age fourteen, ten years after being diagnosed with APL, I'm going to high school. Before I was taught at home or in the hospital, but when I went into remission last year, I started going to a real school. I am nervous for going to a new school, but I still get to go, right? Taylor's in the hospital right now, and Elliot is going to be there with me. At school. I take a deep breath and walk down the stairs carefully, rubbing my hand over my bald head. It's starting to grow back, but not a lot.

"Audrey? Are you coming?" Elliot asks. I smile.

"Yeah, I'm coming." I say, jumping down the last few steps.

"Be careful today, Audrey." My mother warns, handing me my organic, cleaned and steamed lunch. I walk out the door with Elliot to the bus. The bus comes and everyone's quiet for a second while I sit down with Elliot. I get out my phone and try to text Taylor.

"What's wrong with you?" an ignorant boy in the seat across from me asks.

"Nothing, right now." I reply. The boy grimaces, and I feel my stomach turn, but I ignore it. I'm in remission, right? I go to my locker when I get off the bus and get everything set up, taking my stuff for English first. I make my way to my classroom quietly, ignoring the whispers, the pointing. I take my seat and I look around to see the teacher. She was an older lady with glasses falling off her face, looking around for something lost. The bell rings and she stands up straight, skims her eyes over the crowd, and looks straight at me.

"Well! How about we go around and say the name game?" the teacher asks. Everyone goes around saying their name, and it get's to me. I clear my throat and say

"Audrey Ambrose." loudly. I get a look from a familiar girl with freckles and brown hair. She says her name next.

"Anna Fitzgerald." I feel a sweat start to creep up on my and take a deep breath. Elliot see's me, I know it. Because he raises his hand and asks to take me to the nurses office. The teacher looks at me, and says no because I'm guessing she thinks I'm making a statement with a shaved head. I wipe my head ignore it. I go through the day this way. I go home and my mom takes a look at me and has me drink water with gatorade in it. I run up to the bathroom and see I have a nosebleed. _Oh no. _

I wipe it away and lay down, closing my door, locking it. I just needed some peace and quiet. That's when I started puking. Blood. My mom knocks on my door, but I can't get up. She yells for Elliot to come help her, and they take my door off. Elliot and my mother stand there, but then Elliot goes and get's my dad and calls 911.

The ambulance gets there and I get strapped onto a gurney. They take me to the hospital where I'm admitted to emergency. They give me an IV and when they can, they take blood. I'm in the ER overnight and in the morning they take a bone marrow aspiration. They move me to the Oncology department after they've confirmed a relapse.

I wake up and look around. I'm in a huge room, people only separated at the moment by curtains. I look more and see my mother asleep in the chair next to me, my father was probably with Elliot at the cafe, and in the bed next to me was my brother, Taylor. He's still asleep.

"Mom! Do you see that boy over there? Sleeping? His sister goes to Anna's school." I hear a girl say. The mom points at me.

"Is that his sister?"

"Yeah." I am so tired, but I force myself awake. They have me hooked up to different medications through my portacath, coming through my chest. I fall back asleep, and when I wake up, Taylor's awake, talking to the girl who was pointing earlier. I don't think he knew I was here. Or did he?

"Taylor." I murmur. My brother turns and has shock painted on his face. I close my eyes as my mom presses the nurse button. The nurse brings me meds so I stay awake. I look at Taylor who looks pained. The girl next to him looks curious.

"I'm Audrey, Taylor's sister." I explain. I lean back and then sit up, clutching my stomach.

"Mom!" Taylor says. My mother looks up as I wince, she shoves a basin under my mouth and I throw up. More blood.

"Audrey?" a voice says. I look up to see the girl from school.

"Anna, right?" I ask. She nods.

"What are you doing here?" she asks.

"I have APL." I say. "Why are you here?" I ask back.

"This is my sister, Kate." she points to the girl next to Taylor. I nod, and then Dr. Chase comes.

"Audrey, we are going to start you on chemo." he says. I nod and lean back again. They start it and mom has to go to work, so does dad, so Elliot stays with me.

"So, how did it go down this time?" Taylor asks, amused. I laugh weekly.

"It started during the day." Elliot started.

"I was sweating, and Elliot asked the teacher if he could take me to the nurse."

"She didn't see you were bald?" Kate asks.

"I think she thought it was a statement."

"Wow."

"Yeah, and then she got home..."Elliot trails off. I sigh.

"I got a nosebleed, but didn't tell anyone. Then I locked my door, laid down, and started puking blood." I say.

"How did they get you out?" Taylor asks.

"Umm..I uhh..."

"Mom and I heard her from downstairs, she wouldn't come to the door, we broke it down." Elliot says.

"You broke the door down?" Taylor asks.

"Similar story happened with me, now that I think about it." Kate says.

"How long have I been here?" I ask.

"Less than 24 hours. But you started chemo at 12:00...now it's 3:00." Elliot says. I smile. Taylor smirked at Kate.

"Gimme a time." I say.

"5:00." Kate says.

"7:00" Anna says. Elliot and Taylor think.

"10:00?" Elliot asks. I look at Taylor. His record was 2 days. Mine was four.

"What's your record?" Anna asks. Elliot laughs.

"Four days." Taylor says. We both join in laughing.

**Five days later**

I still haven't gotten sick. Beat that record.

"Five days, Aud." Taylor says. Kate's eyes pop out of her head. I laugh.

"That means any minute." I say. I start to feel a little nauseous. I look at Elliot who hands me the basin. That's when I puke. For about five minutes. That's when Dr. Chance came out and said that my kidneys are failing. I might die. I will die.


	2. Chapter 2

Recap: They say my kidney's are failing. I might die. I will die.

"Audrey?" someone calls my name, but it's distant. I don't hear anything after that. I just think about it. It took five days for me to get sick, my body was putting up a fight. Such a fight, I guess, that it's finally over, and it's quit.

"Audrey! Snap out of it!" I hear someone say. I throw up, but I'm crying too. I lean back and start sobbing loudly.

"I do-do-don't wan-nt t-t-o die!"

"There is a few options." Dr. Chase says. "You can let her go, you can wait for a donor to crop up, or...we've just tested Elliot. He can donate a kidney to you." I stop crying slowly. I look up, and Taylor's staring at me, Kate is looking at her mom, Anna's not here, my mom is looking at Elliot, and then Elliot looks at me.

"No. I couldn't let you give me your kidney, El. What if you needed it? Maybe someone else will crop up or if not, I'll...die, I guess." I look at Elliot.

"I'd be crazy not to give it to you." Elliot merely says. I hug him, while they adjust my chemo so that it's more straight forward.

"Kate?" I hear Anna ask. I look at Kate. She has tears coming out of her eyes, but then I notice she's watching TV.

"It's awful isn't it?" I ask, recognizing the show as one I've been fallowing when I could.

"Mark just dumped Kelsey."

"And then moved on to Jenna."

"Who likes Spencer."

"Who has the hots for McKayla, Kelsey's twin."

"Who is completely head over heals for Lee."

"Who likes Kelsey."

"Who is heartbroken by Mark!" Taylor laughs. I glare at him. Kate reaches over to her left, to change the channel. But she turned it off. I look at my mom who is asleep between Taylor and I and Kate's mom who is asleep on the cot next to Kate's.

"Taylor." I say. He looks at me. I study him. He's 16, to my 14, he's got the same brown eyes as me, and when we have hair, we both have chestnut brown.

"Audrey."

"What if something happens with the transplant." I ask, but it's not really a question, just an endless thought.

"It won't." Kate says. I look at her questioningly.

"How do you know?"

"I had a kidney transplant from Anna a few months back. It worked, and we're both fine."I let out a breath. I look at the clock, and it's about 7:00 at night on September 15th. I've been her for 6 days. I've been getting sick a lot and right now it's a break.

"So if your both fine, then why are you here?" I ask.

"Because when my kidney's failed, I was also having a relapse. That's what I'm doing right now, chemo." she explains. I make my mouth into an 'o' and then get sick. I hear someone come it and I look up to see a boy, the same age as Taylor, walk in.

"Hey Katie." He bends over and kisses Kate's bald head.

"Jess, this is Audrey, Taylor's sister." She introduces. I raise my hand, and Taylor calls the nurse for me. I throw up again right after the nurse gives me a fresh emesis basin, and then she left. I look over at Taylor. Who's watching Kate. Who's watching Jesse. Who's watching me.

"Can I help you?" I ask. The boy has dark hair and grey eyes. He looks like Mrs. Fitzgerald.

"I'm Jesse."

"I see. I'm Audrey." I say. I think for a moment. "Taylor, how many days of chemo left?"

"I think tomorrow's your last day."

"Until what?" Jesse asks.

"Radiation, then the transplant." I say. He nods. "Kidney." I explain. He gets up and walks to the sink. He rinses out my basin for me and then gives it back to me.

"No!" I hear a voice say from the doorway. I look up and see the boy from the bus.

"Oh no."I say. Jesse looks at me, then at the boy.

"Marvin! Leave!" He instructs. Jesse walks to the boy, whom he obviously knows.

"Jess?"

"I said leave."

"Are any of these your girlfriend?" He asks.

"Not yet, but one of them is my sister, and she needs rest, so leave."

"Relax, I'm visiting my own sister. She just had a baby, so I decided to take a walk. Jack-pot!" Marvin says. I get angry, but keep my mouth shut because my heart monitor is going crazy. Marvin looks at me.

"Hey, I know you!"

"No you don't." says a voice from behind. Marvin is grabbed by a security guard and removed from the oncology department.

"Wow. What has happened when I'm not there?" Taylor asks.

"That kid, Marvin, or whatever, asked me whats wrong with me the first day of school."

"What'd you say?" Kate pressed.

"I said nothing, right now. Wish it only lasted a little longer." I trace my portacath as Dr. Chase comes in.

"Audrey, how are you?" he asks

"Fine."

"1-10?"

"5" I murmur.

"Well, we're going to do the radiation today and tomorrow, and then the transplant, because you're pretty wiped out already and your white blood cell count is already lower than we thought it would go. You're going to need to go into either reverse isolation, or regular isolation. We want regular, but we understand you want to be with your brother."

"Which will make it easier?" I ask.

"Regular, to be honest."

"Then regular. They can call me, right?" I ask. Dr. Chase nods.

"I'll go get your room set up." He says. A nurse comes and they wheel my bed and me to another room. I wave good-bye to my brother. The next morning they use radiation, and they do the same the next day. That night, Elliot comes in and talks to me. Then they whisk him off for his surgery. The next morning I get whisked into surgery. I wake up later, with a new medicine in my portacath for the new kidney, and a new IV. Later that day they check my blood. They've already seen improvements. I'm removed from regular isolation and put into reverse, wearing a mask and gloves.

"Audrey?" I hear a voice that belonged to Jesse Fitzgerald ask. I nod. I give them a thumbs up. Elliot comes up, wearing his own hospital gown and robe, holding his own IV stand. He gives me a hug and I cry.

"Thank you."


	3. Chapter 3

I look up at Jesse, who's watching Kate. Kate's looking at us and then at her hands. I look at mine, and Taylor at his.

"We match." I laugh. Because we do. We all have scars on our hands from graph vs host, where the skin is thickened and obviously scarred, mainly because I just said that.

"Elliot." I murmur. I simply look up at my brother, my loving, awesome brother, who was going to have to stay in the hospital for a few days. Because he gave me a kidney.

"Audrey." He said back. I leaned into his arms as he kissed the top of my bald head.

"Audrey?" a voice comes from the hallway. I close my eyes, but when I open them again, I see Lance, my knight in shinning armor from last year, who was part of the chess club, but was the sweetest, most helpful boy. I never told him what was wrong with me.

"Lance?" Elliot says. Lance's head bobbles a yes.

"What are you guys doing here?" Lance asks.

"I just had a kidney transplant, and I have leukemia. Elliot just gave me a kidney."

"Why are you here?" Elliot asks.

"Anna and I are suppose to do a project together. She just ran down to the cafeteria, but our project is an interview of Kate."

"Oh."

"Tay, I-" I'm cut off with throwing up, from me of course, but it doesn't help that everyone's watching. Elliot's shipped off to his room again, and the nurse gives me pain meds, but then leaves. I throw up again, and this time I get a nose bleed to go along with it. I lean back in defeat, and then Jesse comes over, cleans out the basin, and then takes a few tissues and clean up my nose bleed. He gives me some water, and then sits in between Taylor and I. I cough, spitting up a little bit of blood, and then Jesse goes into his backpack and brings out two teddy bears. He gives one to Kate and one to me. I smile at him. Then a nurse comes in and takes my blood.

"What are they going to do?" I ask.

"What do you mean?" Taylor asks.

"Well I'm still in a relapse, aren't I? They just gave me a new kidney, but that wasn't my problem. Well it was, but I still have another problem. I still have leukemia, and at that, I'm in relapse. So, what's going to happen?" I ask again.

"I can answer that." Dr. Chase says from the doorway. "You're right. You are still in relapse, but we just tested your blood. Your promylecytes are showing at 25%, with 10% blasts." I raise my eyebrows.

"In English?" I ask.

"We are going to let your body get stronger, and then we are going to try giving you bone marrow, tricking your body, hopefully, and then we are going to give you more chemo."

"How long?" I ask.

"We are going to give your body a month to reboot, then start chemo and radiation for the transplant." Dr. Chase says. His pager beeps and he leaves to another patient.

"A month. No procedures. Then a couple of months with nothing but. What am I going to do for a month? Do I stay at the hospital?" I ask.

"Yes, you will stay in the hospital, but you also may be able to get passes." Kate says.

"A month." I repeat. Taylor nods. I look at Taylor, who's hooked up to an IV, just like Kate and I. He's also hooked up to a medicine. I try to figure out what it is. There's no black bag, showing Cytoxan. He's not going through radiation.

"Taylor, why are you here?" I ask. He looks at me.

"Same as you, I have leukemia."

"No, what are they doing to you right now?"

"Some new drug. It just…keeps you in remission." But there is something he's not telling me.

"Taylor…" I trail off.

"I'm getting a bone marrow transplant…soon. I just don't know when, and they haven't started of chemo yet."

"You haven't even started chemo?" I ask.

"Nope." He says, popping the 'p'.

"How about you, Kate?" I ask. But when I look at her, I suddenly see the blue eyes, the heavy bags underneath, the fake smile, the rosy cheeks, the bald head. She's in pain.

"Chemo starts tomorrow." I hear her whisper.

"Kate, show me your hands." I say suddenly. She holds them up, and I see they're shaking. "What are you on right now?" I ask.

"Anti-pain meds." I try to push my self up, but I can't. I don't have enough energy.

"I need to talk to a nurse." I say. Nobody asks questions, they just press the call button.

"Is everything okay?" The nurse asks.

"No. Katie here has hand tremors. She's in pain. Can you tell me what pain meds they're using on her?" I ask, but I already know the answer. They had put her on morphine, but took her off it. Morphine is highly addictive.

"We were using morphine, but she didn't need it anymore."

"Did you take it away all at once?" I ask. The nurse looks at me, sighs, and then explains.

"She was practically comatose when she was on it, and it was at a medium dosage then, so we took it all away, hoping it would show how much she was really in pain."

"Was her doctor notified about this?" I ask.

"No but-" the nurse starts.

"If you alerted her doctor about it, he would have told you to take it away slowly, not all at once, because now, Kate is going through withdrawal, and she's still in pain, so I think you should ask her doctor what to do." I say. And then I look around and see everyone staring. Soon enough, the nurse leaves, and then comes back with a pill for Kate to take. She takes it, the nurse leaves, and then Kate looks at me.

"How did you know all that?" she asks. I look at Taylor.

"Well….umm…I had my fair share of drugs, being a cancer patient and all, but also I tried overdosing a few times, didn't work…but I became addicted to the high amount of drugs…they finally sent me to the hospital to fix it, but now I know the symptoms. Just because…" I say. Taylor looks sad. It happened when I was 13, right after I was let out, right after I had been made fun of at school…right after Taylor was readmitted.

"So what are you going to do for a month?" Taylor asked.

"Well, knowing me, I'll probably get another infection…I don't really know." I say. Jesse looks at me, his hands fumbling.

"Umm…so Audrey…there's this thing…at my school…" he trails off.

"Yes?" I ask.

"Well, it's this dance, and I know you probably don't want to go, but I thought I'd ask, if you wanted to go, just incase you do…" he wrings out his hands.

"When is it?" I ask.

"Next week. Next Friday." He says.

"I'd love to! But I don't know if I can get out of here." I say.

"Oh you'll be fine!" Kate says. I look at Jesse, his blue eyes, his dark hair. I nod my head.

"Then…yes. I'd love to!" I laugh. But then I shut my mouth.

"What's wrong?" Taylor asks. I point to Mrs. Fitzgerald and my mother standing in the doorway. They have tears in their eyes. I stay still, and run my hand over my head, my bald head.

"Mom? Can I go?" I ask. My mother nods.

"Cool." Anna says, appearing in the doorway. I cough again, and again, get a nose bleed. I look around, but Jesse already has tissues there, cleaning up the mess.

"Jess, are you staying the night?" Anna asks. "I am." She says, proudly. I laugh, but then it gets stuck in my throat. I throw up a little, and Jesse takes care of me. I lean back and try to fall asleep, but I'm totally hyper aware of everyone watching me.

I wake up the next morning and see Jesse's head asleep on my legs, and I guess mom and Mrs. Fitzgerald are in the caf., having a morning cup of coffee. Only Taylor's awake.

"Hi Tay." I whisper.

"Hi Audrey."

"Taylor, I'm dying still. And they want to kill most of me, then rebuild me, like a robot. What if I become a robot?" I ask. Taylor shakes his head. I look at Taylor.

"Do you remember when Gramma and Grandpa took us to the beach, and we both just gotten done with chemo, so we were totally bald? And everyone stared, but we just played in the water. That was fun." He said. I smile.

"Do you remember the Christmas where we were on bed rest, so we slept in the living room, and when we woke up, we both had presents in out lap? We opened them while Elliot was sitting, breaking all of the ornaments and Mom was making coffee, but Dad secretly had the video camera, and we both got new hats, to keep our head warm?" I recall. Taylor nods. We both sit there, trading memories, that we don't even notice that the mothers had come back from the café and that Jesse and Kate, and even Anna, had woken and were silently listening to our conversation. Or, that both of us had streams of tears falling down our face. I laugh as another comes to me.

"Do you remember when we were at the restaurant, and then the waiter was a 17 year old who was gay and thought I was a guy, so he brought me out cake, and then overheard us talking about chemo? We gave him an extra tip, but I think he quit." I hear Taylor laugh.

"Taylor."

"Audrey."

"Taylor, we have to promise that we'll both be at each other's wedding." I say.

"I promise."

"Me too." We're quiet, and then people start to live again.

"Mom?" I ask.

"Yes, Audrey?"

"How come you're never here?"


	4. Chapter 4

My mother looks at me and bites her lip.

"Well, baby, I picked up another job so that we could pay for you and Taylor's treatments, transplants, medications..." I looked up at my mother, shocked.

"Oh...well...sorry." I mutter. I hear a voice in the hallway.

"Mom, is this the right way?" I recognize it immediately. I suddenly bolt up, trying to stand up.

"What's wrong?" Jesse asks. But Taylor heard the voice too.

"Is that...?" I trail off.

"I think so..." I crawl to the edge of my bed and peer through the door.

"LUNA!" I squeal.

"I found her, Mom!" Luna cries. Luna is my half sister. She's a year and a half older than me, we share the same Dad. My parent's had a break right before I was born, long enough for Luna to be conceived. I hear footsteps as my half sister and her mother walk into my room. I lean forward and the heart monitor screams.

"Sit back." my mom tells me softly, but it's an order. I do as I'm told.

"Hi Luna." I say.

"Oh gosh...Sissy, what happened?" she asks.

"Usual." I mutter, silently cursing myself. It's always the same thing.

"Here, I brought you something." She says. She gives me a package, then turns and kisses Taylor on the top of his head, giving him a gift too.

"Sissy, this is Jesse, Kate, Anna, and their mother." I point out. Luna and I call each other 'Sissy' just because we can.

"Nice to meet you." she says. I turn to the present in my lap. Taylor didn't open his up yet. I look at Taylor.

"1..."

"2..."

"3!" I laugh as Taylor and I both tear apart the wrapping paper.

"Whatdu get?" we both ask at the same time. I laugh, as does Taylor.

"I got a new hat!" Taylor says. I look and he puts on a new black hat.

"It suits you." Kate says.

"What about you, Audrey?" Taylor asks. I look at my lap and see five different things. A orange scarf, a matching hat, an orange tee-shirt with the words "_Hope for Audrey" _written on it, and a green and orange knitted blanket. The last was an envelope with the last name "Ambrose" on it. I look at the colors, orange and green. Orange stands for leukemia, and green stands for different transplants. I open the envelope and fine a check to the Ambrose family for $645,775.00. I look at my sister.

"We started a foundation. It's called the Hope for Audrey foundation. We raised a bunch of money for you and your family. Of course, we have tee-shirts for the whole family for Audrey, and some are being make for Taylor, too, but we thought we could help at least a little." Luna shares. My mother has tears in her eyes and scoops Luna up into the biggest hug I've ever seen. I smile and hand my mother the check. Luna comes over and spreads out the blanket across the bed. I move over and Luna sits on the bed with me. The three moms go to the cafe to leave us alone.

"Guess what, Lunes?" I ask.

"What?"she asks back.

"You'd never guess, but I'm going to a prom!" I screech.

"With who? When? Where?"

"With Jesse. Friday. At his school." I giggle and then smack my mouth with my hand.

"What's wrong?" Kate asks.

"He would have liked you to laugh, you know." Luna says.

"She's right." Taylor says. Nobody says anything and I wipe away a tear.

"Who's he?" Anna asks. Kate smacks the back of Anna's head, but I just sigh.

"It's fine. Just a boy who I met when I was younger. He went to the same story time as me. Then he started coming over when we were in remission. Then...he had a relapse. Nobody could do anything...they just let him die." The nurse comes in and gives me medicine, that immediately makes me loopy and dizzy and nauseous.

"Luna, get off my bed." I order. She does as I say and I throw up into the basin. I fall back and that's when I see stars.

"What did they just give me?" I ask.

"They weren't suppose to give you anything." Kate says, appalled.

"Jesse, call the nurses button. Whatever they gave her, she's burning up." Luna says, pushing my back and putting a wet washcloth on my head. I start shivering furiously and start coughing. My 5'3" frame is curled up and the nurses rush in. They look at my charts and see that I was given the wrong medication. They gave me something with a dead virus in it, which just sprang a semi-infection.

"Ma-make i-i-t-t s-s-t-top-p" I chatter. Luna holds me still as they change my IV and take away the wrong medicine. Instead they give me the same medicine that Taylor's on, that just keeps the leukemia where it is. Luna loads more blankets onto me and the fever rages on, but she stays with me all night, taking care of me, and by the morning, the fever's gone.

"Morning sunshine." Taylor says. I cough, but that's it. Everyone else's already awake. They have the TV on low. I roll over to see Jesse's head on my leg. I run my hands though his hair. He looks at me, smiling.

"Luna, check what nurse gave me the wrong medicine yesterday." I say. Today's Tuesday. I have three full days to get strong enough to go out and get a dress.

"Nurse Dakota." she says.

"Well that explains it." I say.

"She's the nurse who said that she took away Kate's morphine." Taylor says. I nod. The doctor comes in and sits on the edge of my bed.

"Hello, Audrey, Taylor, Kate." He says. I nod at him, but I'm still laying back onto the pillows.

"Now, thanks to our unfortunate incident last night, we have a set back. None of you can get passes for three weeks. That nurse has been fired."

"Three weeks?" I ask. I look at Jesse. He shrugs.

"I'm sorry. But that's just protocol." says. I nod, and when he leaves I tell Jesse how sorry I am.

"It's cool." he says. I pat his head.

"Do you know how lucky you are?" I turn to Luna, and then to Jesse.

"What for?" Luna asks, her eyebrow raised.

"Touch your head, then touch mine." I say. She does as I say, and then her eyes widen. I nod. She walks out of the room and I start to fall asleep. When I'm woken up, Luna's standing above me, her head as bald as a baby. No, bald as mine.

"What..." I stutter.

"Now there's no difference." She says simply. I smile and fall asleep again. I wake up quite a few hours later with a fever and a nose bleed.

"Luna" I call out. I hear someone stirring, but I just call out Luna's name again. I look to see a clock, stating that it's 4:45 in the morning. I cough and I can fell liquid coming out of my mouth.

"Who's that?" Taylor calls into the darkness.

"It's your sister, Audrey. Taylor, I need someone to help me." I say.

"Have you tried Luna?" He asks.

"I've tried calling her name, but she's asleep." I say. Taylor reaches over and presses the nurse button. The nurse comes and turns the lights on, and looks at me. She takes a wet washcloth and cleans up my mouth and nose. She takes my temperature, which I can now feel skyrocketing, and swears. It's 103.7. Fahrenheit. I roll over and start shaking. I look and see that Jesse and Anna are nowhere to be seen.

"Are you okay?" Taylor asks. I cough as a response. Taylor shimmies so that he's rubbing my back. I hang on like that until the doctor comes in at 8:30.

"Audrey, you have an infection. We need to move you to your own room so nobody else gets it." Dr. Chase says. I nod, but I'm already asleep and when I wak up, it's in the new room.


	5. Chapter 5

"How are you feeling?" A nurse asks.

"Not great." I mutter. The nurse takes my temperature, which has gone down to 103.2(F). A little better, but I keep shaking.

"Knock knock." Luna says from the doorway. She's got a mask and gloves on and she comes over to me and pulls the blanket around me.

"What are you doing here?" I ask, quietly.

"Your parent's can't always be here, so I'm going to take care of you for awhile." she explains.

"Oh." the rooms quiet while I feel a sharp pain in my side. "AH!"

"What's wrong? What hurts?" Luna says.

"My side!" I yell. I'm having trouble breathing and Luna calls the nurse in who calls the doctor. Dr. Chase puts me on morphine, which feels better, but after a while I fall asleep.

Luna's POV

I've been taking care of Audrey for a while, but the pain was so strong, and when her doctor asked her 1-10, she said 9, meaning she's had worse, but it's pretty high up there. She went comatose about five days ago. I get up, and go to take a shower. I bring my stuff back into Audrey's room and see her still out, so I go to see my brother, Taylor.

"How is she?" Taylor asks. I haven't told him anything yet.

"Somethings going on with her kidneys. They put her on morphine. She's been comatose for five days." I say. Taylor has pain showing on his face.

"What was her number?" Taylor asks.

"9" I say. Taylor whistles.

"How's she right now?" Kate asks.

"She's still out of it." I say.

"Who is?" Jesse asks from the doorway.

"Audrey's in a coma." Kate says. Jesse's eyebrows disappear beneath his hairline.

"How long?" Jesse asks.

"Five days." Taylor answers.

"Can I see her?" Jesse questions. I nod. Jesse fallows my as I get him set up with gloves and a mask. I let him sit next to Audrey, and he holds her hand with one of his, and strokes her bald head with his other. You can start to see blue veins popping out of her head. Her face is no longer rosy. There is something else happening underneath her skin, killing her. I let Jesse alone with her and go into the hall to see her doctor.

"How may I help you, Luna?" says.

"She's comatose." I say. His eyes widen, like he didn't know. "She's not looking good. She hasn't done anything. I don't know what to do." I say. walks with me to Audrey's room.

"Hi, Jesse." says. Jesse nods to the doctor.

"Now, let's see what's happening." Dr. Chase says. He looks at her IV, which is low. He calls the nurse in and has her change it.

"Where did she say it was hurting?" asks.

"Her side." I say.

"It could be the kidney. It might not have worked as good as we thought it did. Keep an eye on her. Keep her on morphine." He leaves, shaking his head.

TWO MONTHS LATER

Audrey's still out of it. They're weening her off of morphine. Jesse comes in sometimes. Her mother stays with Taylor, who's healing from a transplant. He father works.

"I'll be right back." I say. I walk out of the room and walk to the cafe. I just needed a small break. When I get back, there is a few nurses and in Audrey's room. Jesse's outside of her room, a smile on his face.

"She's awake." he says. I run into her room. She's awake, but her eye's are bloodshot, with a slight yellow casting.

"What's wrong?" I ask. Audrey smiles at me.

"Audrey's over all okay, but that much morphine is causing some liver problems."

"What kind of problems?" I ask.

"A little bit of failure." I sit down next to Audrey, holding her hand.

"What can we do?"I ask.

"Well, it's in the first stage, so she has a while to live. A donor might come up, but if nothing changes, she'll be gone within six months." I can't speak, I just whimper.

"It'll be okay. Someone's old liver will crop up." Audrey says. Her voice is scratchy.

"Stay here with her, Jess, I'll be back." I say. I get up and leave the room, walking over to where Kate and Taylor where.

"Hey, how is she?" Taylor asks. His mother looks at me.

"She's awake." I say. They let out a breath and smile.

"But..." Taylor says.

"She's been on too much morphine. Her liver is failing. It's first stage, but if nothing changes, she only has six months." I explain. Mrs. Ambrose covers her mouth with her hand.

"Can I see her?" Elliot asks from the doorway. I nod.

Audrey's POV

I woke up with Jesse crying. They say I've been in a coma for two months. They say something's wrong with the kidney, and my liver's failing. I have six months to live. The nurses take numerous blood draws and they put me on dialysis. The nurses leave and Luna comes back with Elliot and my mother. They rush to hug me. I smile and then I realize I'm on pure oxygen.

"How's the pain?" Luna asks.

"Okay." I croak.

"1-10?"

"6."

"How are you feeling?" My mother asks.

"Alright."

"Do you want to sleep?" Elliot asks.

"No. I want to see Taylor and Kate." I say.

"Kate's able to get up. Taylor's almost healed from his transplant." Elliot says.

"Is my infection gone?" I ask. They nod.

"Can I move back with them?" I ask. My mother leaves to find the doctor.

"Well?" I ask when she comes back.

"They're going to move all of you to a large room." My mother says.

"When?"

"Right now." Mom says.

"Okay." Three nurses come in and move my bed and my IV, and my dialysis. I'm the first one in the room, and they move me to the window.

"Holy crap." Taylor says when he comes in. He's walking, and they change his bed to the one across from me.

"Oh my gosh." Kate says. She's walking too, and she goes to the bed next to me. The rest of the Fitzgeralds follow, along with my family. I smile at them.

"How are you feeling?" Kate asks.

"Alright. You?" I ask.

"Better. I get discharged next week."

"Nice. How about you, Tay?"

"I'm going home."

"When?" I ask, shocked.

"Couple of days."

"You know what I'm going to miss the most?" I ask, meaning when I'm gone. I look at my hands.

"What?" Luna asks, softly.

"The beach." I sigh. I cough a little, and everyone comes to me, but I put my hand up.

"I'm fine." I say. The next few days were recovery. I got a little better. I didn't need dialysis as much. The kidney started working sometimes. It's just the liver now. Kate got discharged. Taylor did too. But then one day, I was blindfolded. I was brought in a wheelchair, discharged, and loaded into my parent's car. I was wrapped in a blanket, and I had a hat on. I heard the waves, and thats when I got excited. I could walk fine now, and they took me off of the IV and oxygen, and they had me change into sweatpants and a tee-shirt. I felt the sand underneath my bare feet, and they had me walking towards something, but I couldn't figure it out. Finally the took off the blindfold.

"SURPRISE!" everyone yelled. I realized what day it was. It's my fifteenth birthday! I looked around and saw all of my family, including Luna, and the Fitzgeralds, and Lance. I laughed, but it sounded wrong. I gave my mom the blanket and she spread it on the sand. I stood still for a moment, and then walked towards everyone. First to Luna, and then to Elliot, and then Kate and Taylor, who were holding each other. I smiled to them. I said hello to everyone, and then I found Jesse, who's back was to me. I jumped on his back held on while he tried to find me. A giggle escaped my lips. I finally got off and gave him a hug.

"It's June already!" I ask. Because my birthday is in June, but so was six months. I was having the last stages of failure. I let that go and went to play in the water.

"That was fun!" I said that night as they admitted me through emergency. I went to my room and they hooked my up again. I feel asleep quickly, forgetting everything except what happened.

Luna's POV

We all waited while the skinniest version of Audrey we've ever seen walked towards us. You could see through her skin, trace the veins. Her teeth were yellow, and when we say her eyes, they too were yellow, from the liver failure. We all watched her stumble as she did things that should have been easy. We watched her leave, knowing this may be the last time we ever saw her. I went to sleep that night, and when I woke up, I got a phone call.

"Hello?" I asked.

"Hi, Luna?" the voice asked.

"Yes?"

"Luna, it's Kate. Audrey died last night."


	6. Chapter 6

Luna's POV

I stared out the front window as I drove to the hospital.

She can't be dead.

She's not. I can feel it. I arrive at the hospital and her parents are both there. Audrey's in bed, her eyes open, sitting up, talking. I find Kate.

"What happened?" I ask.

"Her heart stopped last night. They did CPR, she came back. Her livers are hanging in there. They're doing a new surgery. They are taking some or Elliot's liver and giving to Audrey, hopefully that will fix it. Then they do chemo, and she should be cool." Kate explains. I breath out a breath I've been holding. Audrey looks the same as yesterday, yellow eyes, teeth, transparent skin, bald head, but unlike yesterday, it wasn't covered with a hat. I rush to her, hugging her small body.

"Hi, Luna!" Audrey says. I pull away, tears in my eyes.

"Hi Sissy. How are you feeling?" I ask.

"Alright. Last night was a little bit of a scare. But I'm okay now. Elliot's in surgery right now. I'll be in later." She says.

Audrey's POV

Last night was scary. I fell asleep and then I was woken up at 3:00 am with someone doing CPR to me. They had me back on pure oxygen before you could spell Texas. I was to stay awake from then on. They're going to do a new surgery with Elliot's liver. I look through the door and see Luna. She is talking to Kate. Kate was notified how I almost died, but she hung up before they said I was alive. She had called Luna, told her what happened. Now she was telling Luna the truth. Jesse was still sleeping. Taylor was at school, as was Anna. They don't know what happened yet. Luna comes in the room and hugs me.

"Hi Luna!" I say. She has tears in her eyes.

"Hi Sissy. How are you feeling?" she asks.

"Alright. Last night was a little bit of a scare. But I'm okay now. Elliot's in surgery right now. I'll be in later." I say. Luna nods, then goes to call someone, probably Taylor's school. The nurse comes in and hooks me up with medicine that make me stay awake. I feel like I could jump around, but of course, I can't. My parent's say that they won't leave, but then the doctor comes and asks to see them in the hallway. I'm alone again. I take out a book I've been reading and open it to where the page was bent. My phone rings and I reach over to answer it.

"Hello?" I ask.

"Audrey?" a concerned voice asks.

"Yes...who is this?" I say into the receiver.

"Audrey, this is Taylor, your brother. Oh my gosh are you alright?" he asks.

"Yeah. Taylor, how are you talking to me?" I ask.

"I'm in the office. They just told me what happened. Luna's on her way to pick me up. I'll be there soon." He says.

"Elliot's in surgery." I say.

"Yeah, giving you part of his liver so that you can start a new one." Taylor says. I nod, but remember he can't see me, so I answer with a 'yes'.

"I've got to go Sissy, Luna's here. I'll see you in a few." he says.

"Bye."I say, hanging up the phone. The doctor comes in and talks to me.

"How are you feeling, Audrey?" asks.

"Alright, I guess. Not in much pain, surprisingly. Kind of nervous. I just want to be better." I say. nods.

"Now, the problem right now is your liver. But hopefully, this surgery will work. Then once your body gets over the surgery, you will go into a combination of radiation, chemo, and another medication that should put you in remission.

"Okay." I whisper. I was going to get better.

"Alright, stay strong, I'll be back to get you for surgery. Meanwhile, you have some visitors." says, leaving the room while Luna comes in with Taylor, and Jesse trailing behind.

"Audrey, what are we going to do with you?" Taylor asks, sitting next to me.

"Hopefully I'll get better, then you'll be able to do what you want, terrorizing me and what not." I joke. But Taylor's face is serious.

"Don't be like that." I say, putting my hand up to Taylor's face. "I'm going to make it." Taylor's quiet and I look at Jesse, who's looking like he might fall over if there was even the most gentle wind blew.

"Luna! Hi! Oh hi Taylor." Anna says from the doorway, rolling her eyes. Luna leaves with Taylor so that Jesse and I are alone.

"Are you alright?" Jesse asks. I nod.

"Come here." I say. Jesse climbs onto the foot of my bed. I watch him as he fiddles with his coat's zipper.

"I was so scared last night. This morning. They have me on medicine so that I won't fall asleep. They are going to take me into surgery soon. Everything will be just fine." I say. But I don't know if it's for Jesse, or me.

"You'll be okay. And when you get out of here, I'm taking you on a date." Jesse says. I smile at him. We sit there for a really long time and then finally, has me get up and he takes me to the operation room. I lay down on the table and they give me anesthesia. I fall asleep.

12 hours later

"Audrey?" I hear my name called. I try to sit up, but I'm on my stomach. I turn onto my back and I sit up. I look around me and see all of my family including Elliot, Luna, and Jesse and Kate. I rub my eyes and I can feel a cough coming, but I hold it in for the time being. I feel a soreness on my back. I look at my catheter. It's connected to an IV and medicine that helps with the pain. I push my self up more and see all the teddy bears in my room.

"What are these from?" I ask.

"People at school found out. They sent you gifts." Anna says. I look at Anna.

"And how did they find out?" I ask.

"They saw my Hope For Audrey t-shirt. They kind of figured it out." Anna says. I sigh, but look at my family.

"Any news if it's helping?" I ask.

"I can tell you that." says from the door.

"Well?" I push.

"The liver is working. Your body is helping it build. You should take a few weeks to recover, but you are already are looking healthier. Your eyes are starting to turn white again, we don't see as many veins, you are going to be just fine." Dr. Chase says, smiling. I smile back.

3 months later

I take a look around the room that I had spent nearly a year in. My chemo had just ended. I was still bald, still skinny, but I was in remission, and you couldn't see my veins anymore, and my eyes weren't yellow from the liver, and I just got my teeth professionally cleaned and bleached, to make then healthy looking again. I looked semi normal, I guess. I walk out of the room to find my family waiting for me in the hall. I look back, knowing it wouldn't be long until I was back, but for now, I was free.

"So, Audrey, school starts next week. You're gonna go right?" Elliot asks. I nod, I didn't really have much of an accuse any more. I go home and we eat dinner, and then I take a bath, and then I go to sleep.

The next day Taylor, Elliot, and I all went to the Fitzgeralds house. I stood behind Taylor and Elliot as Mrs. Fitzgerald opens the door.

"Kids! You have people to see you!" yells to the house. Anna and Kate appear in jeans and a tee-shirt, compared to my long sleeve button down that shows my catheter and jeans, and then they see me. I hold up a finger to my mouth, shushing them. They have the boys come in and I trail behind them. Jesse's on the couch watching tv, his back to us. I tip toe and put my hands around his eyes.

"Anna! Kate! Which one of you is doing this?" He yells. I stifle a giggle and Jesse trys to move my hands. He feels the scars and thinks it's Kate.

"Move your hands Katie." He orders.

"I'm not touching you, I'm over here." Kate calls. I can feel Jesse's face go confused. I keep my hands around his eyes as I walk around and sit on his lap, hugging him as I move my hands.

"Audrey? You're out?" he asks.

"Yeah. Yesterday. I'm in remission." I smile. He doesn't say anything, but put his arms around my back.


	7. Chapter 7

It's the first day of school. I wake up earlier than usual. I'm nervous, and I don't know what to put on my head. Wigs are itchy, but sometimes worth it. Scarfs and hats, they are a giveaway. So at 7:30, when I was dressed, and I knew Kate would be awake, I called her. She would be in more of my position.

"Hello?" she asked when I called.

"Hey, Katie, it's Audrey. I have a question." I say into the receiver.

"What's wrong?" she asks quickly.

"Nothing...I don't know what to put on my head for today." I explain.

"I'm not wearing a wig, I'll probably wear a scarf. Taylor will probably try to get away with a hat, but they'll make him take it off...I'd go with a scarf." Kate says, thinking out loud.

"Okay...thanks Katie. I'll see you later." I was tutored through out the parts when I was feeling alright so I'm pretty much caught up. I'm going into tenth grade with Anna and Jesse got held back because he was with Kate a lot and Taylor and Kate are in eleventh because they didn't get tutored, they have to repeat to get more credits. I'm wearing a blue sweater that fits nicely and jeans. Even though it's still summerish, my skin doesn't look great. It's thickened and splotchy. I've got scars on my arms from the IV's from when there wasn't enough room in my central line, which was right now hidden beneath my shirt. I pull shoes on and slowly walk down stairs. My mother hands me my lunch as she does with Elliot and Taylor. We all leave and get on the bus. Two bald siblings and one normal. But there are cracks beneath the surface, and none of us are about to admit it. Taylor's got a black hat on his head and I've got a dark blue scarf wrapped around mine.

"Hello." a voice says. I turn. I'm on the outside of the seat sitting with Taylor. I see a girl, I don't know her name, looking at me.

"Hi...do I know you?" I ask. She shakes her head no.

"I'm Phoebe. Your Audrey Ambrose, right?"

"Yeah...how'd you know?"

"Anna is my friend, she wore her Hope for Audrey shirt last year. We got everyone to donate."

"I remember now! There was a lot of teddy bears in my room." I laugh, and it sound off, it earns a worried glance from Taylor. I pat his hand.

"Who's your homeroom?" Phoebe asks.

"Umm...I'm Ab so I think its Catson."

"Oh! I have her too! My last name is Aarons.

"Were not going to be with Anna and Kate, even Jess, are we?" I ask Taylor. He frowns. I turn to Taylor and we start whispering a little, not really about anything. I look at Taylor who seams queasy. I feel his forehead, and he feel's alright, but a little clammy. I text Kate and tell her to watch Taylor. Hopefully he was just nervous. We had already compared our schedules and we all had the same lunch and then study hall after that.

"Good-bye!" The bus driver calls as we get off the bus. I find Elliot and Phoebe who's lockers where next to mine. On my left, it was Phoebe, and my right was Elliot.

"Okay I'm ready." I say, standing up. I shut my locker and see that Elliot and Phoebe are staring at something. I try to get a better look and see it's just the Fitzgeralds coming towards us. I see Jesse and he doesn't see me yet. I run up to him and he looks down.

"Audrey." He murmurs, pulling me into a hug. I laugh and pull away, biting my lip. I go over to Kate.

"Did you see him yet?" I ask her. She shakes her head, and just then Taylor comes around the corner.

"See who yet?" he asks, trying to put on a smile, but he's in pain.

"Oh!" Kate cries. I nod. I go over to my big brother.

"Taylor, are you alright?" Elliot asks. Taylor nods, but he's got his hand around his stomach. I put my hand on Taylor's head. It wasn't warm. I sighed, and let Phoebe and Elliot lead me to homeroom. When we get there, everybody stops talking. The teacher, Mrs. Catson, says hello and I sit there quietly while she explains stuff. I didn't really listen. The rest of the day happened like that and I was relieved to be at lunch. But when we got there something was wrong. There was a circle around someone and I thought it was kids talking, but I saw as I got closer, someone was lying on the ground. I ran and saw the person was bald. Taylor. Or Kate! I shoved my way through and when nobody moved, I scream.

"MOVE YOUR BUTT!" People move and some of them leave.

"Taylor? Kate!" I call. Taylor's sitting against the wall and Kate's got a warm, wet paper towel in her hands, wipping away a nosebleed. I take a step back and stumble, falling on my butt.

"Ow!" I yelp. Taylor looks up, and Elliot comes from behind me, helping me up as I walk towards Taylor and Kate.

"Don't get anyone, okay?" Taylor asks. I feel his head, and there is still no fever. I back up and study him. He is paler than he should be and he's got a nose bleed, he was diagnosed with ALL, a LEUKEMIA, which is CANCER. And he asks me not to tell? Not going to happen. But I didn't want to leave him.

"I need to make sure your okay." I whisper, getting up. Taylor reaches out and grabs my leg as I take a step. I fall flat on my face, my nose starts bleeding, nonstop.

"Elliot!" I cry. He runs and gets me bunches on napkins. I stuff them under my nose, which won't stop bleeding. I feel the blood leaving my body, and after a while, I start seeing black spots. Jesse finally see's and picks me up and brings me to the nurse. Kate and Elliot help get Taylor there. They call the ambulance which brings us to the hospitals. They get a line in me, giving me fluids and platelets. I get to go home. Taylor has to get a bone marrow aspiration.


	8. Chapter 8

Elliot and I are home alone that night. Our homework is done, I'm not really allowed to do anything. Taylor's at the hospital, and I'm not allowed to leave the house without someone unless it's for school.

"Audrey, do you want anything?" Elliot asks.

"I was to see the Fitzgeralds." I say.

"You can't go there. We have no way to get anywhere."

"But were home alone, I just got out of the hospital, Mom and Dad are with Taylor who IS in the hospital...I'm bored. I'm scared. And I have no idea why they are always there for Taylor but not for me. I did die for a few seconds, nobody was there. If the same happened for Taylor, someone would be there." I point out. Elliot walks away and when he comes back, he sits me up and helps me get upstairs to change into something comfortable. When I come back downstairs I've got on pajama bottoms and one of Taylor's tee-shirts. I go and sit on the couch again, slightly tired, but also in pain. I don't tell anyone about the pain, it's not even that bad, just a little pinch in my stomach, probably nervous about Taylor. After about 5 minutes, there is a knock on the door.

"Elliot!" I yell. I can't really get up, I'm tired and my side hurts.

"I'll get it." He comes barreling down the stairs and looks through the peep hole without glancing at me. He breaths a sigh of relief and lets Jesse and Kate in.

"Where's Audrey?" Kate asks.

"Resting on the couch, she's had a long day but she wanted to see you guys." Elliot tells them. Jesse comes in and sits on the couch, looks at me, and says "Oh shit." I try to figure out whats wrong and he hands me a tissue.

"The doctors said there may be more bleeding but they have enough platelets in me I should be okay." I tell Jesse. He nods.

"Audrey how have you been feeling?" Kate asks.

"Fine." I lie. But it doesn't sound convincing so I try again. "I've been feeling actually normal." I joke, and to play it up even more I add a smile. I feel awkward doing it, because how can anyone smile while in pain?

"Hmm...I see." Elliot looks skeptical.

"Hey you know what I don't understand?" Kate says. I look at her.

"When you were in the hospital, you went into multiple system failure, your liver failed, your kidneys did, the kidney Elliot gave you failed, so how did you get cured by half of Elliot's liver and chemo?" I think about this for a minute, but Elliot answers for me since most of that time I was sick and unconscious.

"The kidney stopped functioning because she had a vitamin deficiency, so when the liver stopped working they gave her more medicines which included various vitamins. Those vitamins got her kidneys functioning again and then they gave her a new liver, so it fixed everything." While Elliot preaches, I stand up to go to the bathroom. Because I've been having treatment for my cancer for a long time, there has been developmental delays, such as the fact that I haven't gotten my period yet.

"Audrey where are you going? The doctors said for you to relax."

"Chillax Ell...I'm going to the bathroom."

"Why the upstairs one? What's wrong with the downstairs one?"

"Elliot relax,it'a a girl thing." I cover up. Elliot doesn't know I don't have it yet. I hurry up the stairs because then I realize, Kate knows. I get into the bathroom and lock the door. I use the toilet and then I have to hold down a scream because there's blood within my feces, running down my leg, everywhere. I strip my clothes off and step into the shower, letting the warm water and organic soap wash away all traces of blood. I get out and wrap myself in a towel, get into pajamas, and quickly clean up the bloody mess around the toilet.

"Audrey? Are you okay?" Kate bangs on the door.

"I'll be right out, I took a shower." I tell her. She doesn't move from in front of the door.

"You don't have your period." Kate tells me when I open up. She looks around the bathroom and sniffs, smelling the sharp scent of the cleaner. She opens up the cabinet under the sink and looks at the bunches of bloody paper towels.

"Audrey what happened?" Kate screeches.

"Nothing..I cut my leg shaving."

"You wouldn't bleed that much, and there wouldn't really be a need for you to clean your toilet."

"Leave me alone Kate I'm fine it's just...from the chemo."

"The chemo you had 3 months ago?" Kate asks. I try and grasp for words, but none are found.

"I'm fine. I cut my leg shaving and it just kept bleeding because my platelets are still a little low and it didn't stop bleeding."

"Audrey you could be going into relapse." Kate says with authority.

"What do you want me to do?"

"Tell me what happened!"

"Anal bleeding."

"Audrey!"

"Girls! What's happening?" Elliot calls up the stairs.

"Elliot, Jesse and I have to go. Watch Audrey very closely tonight. If she starts throwing up, call 911, and then call my house. We'll meet you there."

"Ok. See you later Kate, Jesse." Elliot gets me, picks me up, and tucks me into bed. I fall asleep without a problem, but I wake up, as Kate predicted, running for the bathroom. Blood comes out of my mouth, a result from a relapse. Elliot calls the Fitzgerald's, calls 911, they have me loaded into a gurney. I'm in the ER where Dr. Chase takes a look at my blood smear. He says it's low, but that we better take a bone marrow aspiration to check before a confirmation. Someone calls my parents who are with Taylor. My mother comes to sign off on the forms and then leaves. Do they not know my cancer is deadlier? That my risk of dying is higher? That I was dead for a few minutes? These are the last thoughts that run through my head before they put me under with anesthesia.

"Audrey honey? It's time to wake up." I hear a nurse saying to me. I blink a few times, and go to rub my eyes and that's when I notice it. My central line catheter is being flushed and then filled with new medicines, meanwhile I have an IV going in my left arm.

"What's going on?" I ask groggily.

"Dr. Chase has looked at your bone marrow, he needs to talk to you about it."

"That's never a good sign. Where's my parents?"

"With Taylor, but Elliot is in the cafe."

"Okay, thanks." I look around the room, out the door.

"Audrey?" I look up to see .

"Hey Dr. C what's happening?"

"Audrey, this is your second relapse in a year, which leads me to believe that were at the end." I breath.

"I feel okay though."

"You have a low fever, which means there is an infection in your body. Does anything hurt?"

"Honestly? I've had a pain in my side for a few days."

"Where?" I show him where and he has a nurse bring in the ultrasound tech. and ultrasounds where the spot is.

"You,my dear, have appendicitis. We will go into surgery to remove it."

"But what about my cancer? How much longer do I have left?"

"Estimated time...2 months."


End file.
